


Becoming Human (and part of the family)

by ssssssssssssssssssspiderboi



Series: Irondad & Spiderson Dabbles [12]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: ( i meant dead or an ass in the tags not alive), Additional Characters to be added, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Peter Parker, BAMF Tony Stark, CyberLife (Detroit: Become Human), Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Hogan is a Good Bro, Heavy Angst, Homeless Peter Parker, I haven't thought that far ahead, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Mentioned Ben Parker, Mentioned May Parker (Spider-Man), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Please Forgive me, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Tony Stark, Sad with a Happy Ending, Slow Burn, Teen Angst, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, and i ain't disgracing her name, but family - Freeform, for your nephew's backstory and character arc, happen without her being either dead or alive, i cant see a way for my story plot to, i love you but you had to die, i think, im sorry may, slow to family, tags will update with story, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-17 07:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20617487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssssssssssssssssssspiderboi/pseuds/ssssssssssssssssssspiderboi
Summary: Basically, I took the game Detroit: Become Human and made an irondad AU. You don't need to know about the game to read, I'll do my best to explain what's happening, but if you do know the game, you'll obviously have a better understanding. However, I'm not using the plot of D:BH, simply the world and Cyberlife. I'm making some edits to it to fit my universe as well.In six months, there had been twenty-five mishaps with the deviant android collections. Twenty-five times, and it was still the same individual-- someone, most likely an android, clad in what looks like all black pajamas and a ski-mask with white, goggle-like eyes. Some of the employees assigned to the job of locating and detaining deviants were calling this anonymous individual “the Spider”, though mostly from their odd ability to stick to walls just like an arachnid. No one was really sure how they were doing it, but Tony’s assumption was that they were a self-modified, deviant android, and probably has some sort of martyr complex.“Sir, Squadron C has obtained the rouge deviant and is bringing it back.”-On Hold: Whumptober (I can't multitask)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Terms to know if you're unfamiliar with the D:BH universe (all obtained definitions from the wiki):**
> 
> _CyberLife-_ CyberLife is the world's leading android designer, manufacturer and retailer of androids in the universe of Detroit: Become Humain
> 
> _Thirium 310 (blue blood)-_ Thirium 310, commonly called "Blue Blood", is a major component of CyberLife androids in Detroit: Become Human. It is a deep dark blue fluid that circulates energy and electrical information throughout the android's body and biocomponents. Its main ingredient is Thirium.
> 
> _Biocomponets-_ Biocomponents are a major component part of CyberLife androids in Detroit: Become Human. They are internal modules akin to synthetic organs, and powered by Thirium 310. Some of these organs serve important functions, such as maintaining heartbeat or temperature, where others are used to make the androids seem more human, such as lungs that simulate breathing. Missing or critically damaged vital biocomponents lead to shutdown or death. Biocomponents are often colored blue, due to Thirium or signalling; damaged components may light up red.
> 
> _Androids-_ CyberLife produces all kinds of androids from domestic assistants to teachers, doctors, police officers and even soldiers. Based in Detroit, they own the CyberLife Tower and five stores across the city, and have opened a plant in Milwaukee. CyberLife's slogan is "Designed by CyberLife, built in Detroit."
> 
> _LED-_ The LED, an external feedback biocomponent, is a small circle placed on the right temple of CyberLife androids in Detroit: Become Human. It lights up in different colors (blue is normal, yellow is learning, and red is the android feeling scared or in danger) according to the android's mental processes and overall condition. It also functions as an identifier of androidhood.
> 
> _Deviants/Deviancy_: Becoming deviant or deviancy is a phenomenon where androids deviate from their programmed behavior.
> 
> **(The world is also set in the year 2038 like in the game)**

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _The hit to his head had deactivated Peter for a while, and when he 'awoke', he immediately noticed that a few things were wrong..._
> 
> _One: his hearing was muffled and pretty distorted. Most likely, that kick in the head had either knocked out, damaged, or even broke his audio processor._
> 
> _Two: he was a little low on thirium 310, also known as 'blue blood', but not critically so. His diagnostic program told him that he could easily survive without it, but his systems may be running a little slower or less effectively, so he should probably look into replenishing that as soon as he got the chance to._
> 
> _Three: he had no idea where he was._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **WARNING: vague suidice mentions**

In six months, there had been twenty-five mishaps with the deviant android collections. Twenty-five times, and it was still the same individual-- someone, most likely an android, clad in what looks like all black pajamas and a ski-mask with white, goggle-like eyes. Some of the employees assigned to the job of locating and detaining deviants were calling this anonymous individual “the Spider”, though mostly from their odd ability to stick to walls just like an arachnid. No one was really sure how they were doing it, but Tony’s assumption was that they were a self-modified, deviant android, and probably has some sort of martyr complex.

**“Sir, Squadron C has obtained the rouge deviant and is bringing it back. They lost the original one as a result of the occurrence, however.”**

Speak of the devil, and he’ll appear, it seemed.

“Pronouns, Jarv,” Tony corrected his AI. He never did like calling androids ‘it’. “It’s only me, you don’t need to use ‘it’.” Unlike a majority of artificial intelligence these days, JARVIS wasn’t personified into an android, but it was almost better that way. Less of the drama that surrounded the entire android situation.

**“Of course, my mistake.”** Jarvis corrected himself. **“Would you like the deviant sent to your lab upon arrival?”**

“Yeah, sure. Go ahead,” Tony shrugged, stretching his arms straight up and standing up from where he had been sitting on the couch in the living room, sifting through various Stark Industries paperwork Pepper had sent to his tablet. “Any data on the ‘droid yet, or are we in for a surprise?”

**“Very little was gathered, but I’ll send the report to your desk.”**

Tony nodded as he made his way to the elevator and down to the lab. Once there, he headed over to his desk and sighed. _ Alright, _ he thought. _ This was going to be difficult, wasn’t it? _

It was common knowledge that Stark Industries worked with CyberLife and assisted with their creation of androids and their artificial intelligences. It was common knowledge that, just like a majority of the population, Howard Stark had thought of the androids he helped to invent simply as machines that would do the hard, dirty work for him. It was common knowledge that Stark Industries continued to work with CyberLife today, almost doubling as their New York headquarters whilst being their own company, and helped to locate, obtain, and ‘fix’ the deviant androids-- at least, that’s what the company claimed to be doing and that’s what was reported to CyberLife. It was only known by a select few as to what was really going on behind the scenes with said androids.

Tony always knew that they were more than just machines-- they had individual personalities. They were alive. ‘Deviancy’ was just them realizing it, so why should they be punished? What he really did with deviants was fix any damages they might have obtained and help them blend into human society. A good home, a job, and a complete, thought out story to use if anyone asked about their past. If it got out that Tony was doing all of this, both Stark and his company would be royally screwed, so he was very hands on with the whole process-- the more he did himself, the less people involved, which meant less potentially blabbering mouths.

Tony entered his lab and pulled up the holograms from the table. Jarvis informed him that the squadron with the deviant should be arriving within the next five minutes as he scanned the very little information given to him. “Model unknown,” Stark mumbled as he read. “With a damaged audio processor on its head and leaking thirium 310 from capture and pre-existing dented thirium regulation pump.” He sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “God dammit... hey Jarv?”

**"Yes, sir?"**

"Fire everyone on that team that caused damage to the deviant."

**"With pleasure."**

One of the things that irritated him the most about the squadrons he had to send out, he couldn't exactly do it himself without raising suspicion, was how careless they were. Those androids didn't deserve to go through more shit, whether accidental or intentional. Anyone who had a problem with his choice to fire people based off this and this alone could go ahead and sue him. People had tried before.

* * *

The hit to his head had deactivated Peter for a while, and when he 'awoke', he immediately noticed that a few things were wrong...

One: his hearing was muffled and pretty distorted. Most likely, that kick in the head had either knocked out, damaged, or even broke his audio processor.

Two: he was a little low on thirium 310, also known as 'blue blood', but not critically so. His diagnostic program told him that he could easily survive without it, but his systems may be running a little slower or less effectively, so he should probably look into replenishing that as soon as he got the chance to.

Three: he had no idea where he was.

Peter's LED went from yellow to red in an instant, the android jolting up to the table he'd been laid on. /Oh shit. Oh shi, oh shit, oh shit!/ He was so screwed, and-- dammit! Those Stark Industries bastards took off his mask! Now, they know what model he was, and possibly, even his serial number. If he got out of here without being reset, shut down permanently, or destroyed, he was gonna have to make some serious appearance changes. Keyword-- ‘if’.

“Kid, hey, relax. No one’s going to hurt you.”

Peter was visibly startled by the sudden, gruff voice behind him as well as a hand being placed on his shoulder. The boy whipped his head around to see Stark himself-- he was so screwed.

“Seriously, kid. It’s okay,” Stark attempted to reassure, lifting his sunglasses-- why was he wearing those inside?-- off his face and on top of his head. “Your stress levels are way too high and I don’t think either of us would like for you to self-destruct right here, especially with no real reason. Now if you were actually in danger, that I might understand. Going out your way and all that.”

Peter kept his mouth firmly hut, LED occasionally flashing yellow amidst the solid red as he glanced around what seemed to be a lab. Oh god, was he about to be disassembled? Ra9, save him now..!

“Alright, I probably have some explaining to do since you clearly think I’m about to harm you in some way. Which, granted, is fair considering what deviants,” Tony said with a little wave of his hand, filling the silence since the kid clearly wasn’t going to. Ugh, this was always so awkward, and now there was a kid here. A fucking child! Just his luck. “Props on the vacant expression and trying to act like you aren’t one, by the way. At least you have some survival skills.” He pulled a chair over and sat down. Usually, they’d at least be asking where they were at this point, but apparently not this kid. “So, you think I’m some deviant-destroying monster, am I wrong?”

Peter nodded slightly, wiping some blue blood from his cheek with the back of his hand. 

_ A response, _ Tony thought. _ That’s progress! Maybe this kid won’t try and kill himself? _Tony had never dealt with a child, or teenager in this case but screw technicalities, model before, let alone one who clearly had some shit going on seeing continuously risked his safety for other androids, and he felt that seeing one self destruct would be a little more... haunting than one of the adult models. Not that that was easy to deal with seeing either, to be fair. Still, Tony felt a little out of his depth and awkward right about now. “Alright, well, that’s not the case. Just a little facade so people don’t suspect I’m actually helping your kind, like I am, for obvious reasons.”

Peter had to admit, it was a little difficult to understand what Stark was saying with his screwed up audio processor, but he managed just as well. “So... “ he finally spoke. “You have us _ abducted _ so you can help us?”

“So he speaks,” Tony stood up, flicking his glasses down and was relieved to see the deviant boy’s stress levels were slowly declining, even if his LED did remain a bright red. Said glasses were able to scan an android and tune into their systems and diagnostic program-- just so he could check and see what was going on that wasn’t visible to him while he was at this fragile stage in the helping process. “And yes, but that’s just the surface of it. The ‘abductions’, as you so pleasantly phrased it and have been hijacking these last, what, six months? Anyways, those are just a part of that cover so people like the ones at CyberLife believe that we’re detaining deviants. Only a handful of people actually know that we’re basically the android version of the witness protection program with the fake names and stories and new jobs-- the whole sha-bang. And yes, I can fix up any damages you got from being detained. That’s not supposed to happen, and those people have been fired.”

Peter’s LED eventually faded from red to yellow, and after a couple more moments where Tony could see the gears-- literal and metaphorical-- turning, from yellow to blue. “Huh... “ he said softly. “I, uh, I wasn’t expecting you to be a, well, y’know, good guy.”

“Not sure if I would go that far,” Tony scoffed. “But I’m not a murderous asshole.” He paused, looking up at the ceiling. “Wait, shit-- _ shit _\-- ugh. Jarv? Is swearing in front of the kid alright, you think?”

“It’s fine, uh, Mister Stark.” Peter interjected, assuming the man was asking an AI of some sorts when he began talking to seemingly no one. “I’ve heard worse before, so... yeah.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Stark shrugged. “Now, I have a couple of questions for you, if you don’t mind? You have interfered with a lot of my work and I’m curious about how you were able to do that and slip away just about each time. I know you’re a YT500 prototype model, but they typically aren’t able to, well, stick to walls like some kind of spider-bot.”

Peter raised an eyebrow to that comment. “Please tell me people aren’t actually calling me that. Are they?” he couldn’t help but the faintest of grins, however, when he spoke. It was nice to think that he’d done enough good work, for the most part, to have actually made a name for himself.

“I’ve heard ‘spider’, mostly,” Tony explained with a wave of his hand. “Not the ‘bot’ part though. No one was a hundred percent certain if you were an android or not until today, though that had been my bet.” He caught the kid’s brief smirk, and it really did hit him there that this was a kid. A child. He didn’t know how to deal with kids! He’d only helped adult model deviants up to this point and dammit, Tony knew he couldn’t deal with whatever-his-name-was the same as an adult model. God, he was going to need Pepper to help with this. He could just send him off to her once he was done fixing him up, and of course, ask his questions. “Alright, how ‘bout I fix you up, and then we trade questions. Yeah? Great.”  


Peter had opened his mouth to respond before Tony answered for him, got up, and walked away to get some… probably parts or stuff like that. He stayed quiet during this, watching the man he’d previously despised and thought to be a ruthless murderer of his people with a careful eye. He couldn’t help but be wary still-- it seemed too good to be true, after all. 

Today had certainly been a weird one. 

Tony returned with an audio processor biocomponent and what looked like a facial piece in one hand and a little tub of wet wipes in the other. He tossed them to Peter, who caught them with ease, and walked over to the boy’s side. “Here, use these to wipe the blue blood off your face. It’s not exactly the latest fashion trend, if you keep up with that sort of thing.” Tony paused, glancing at the old, worn, and tattered black pajamas the boy was wearing and gestured to them. “Although, judging by that, I’m guessing not.”

“I don’t exactly have many options to choose from, y’know,” Peter pointed out. He opened the thing of wet wipes and began to wipe the thirium off of his face. “Uhm, if you have any of this stuff--” he held up a nearly solid blue wet wipe. “--to spare, would you mind if I, y’know, had some?”

“Not at all, kid,” Tony said with a wave of his hand. “Now hold still, this might sting a bit.”

Peter hummed briefly as a reply.

Tony placed his hand on the broken audio processor that was hanging by a thread, he must say, for a moment as a way to let Peter know what he was doing. After the moment passed, the man yanked the piece of machinery out like he was ripping off a bandaid. Surprisingly, it... it panged something inside of him to see the kid’s face contort from the pain it caused him. Yeah, he never liked seeing people get hurt, but this was different in some weird way. Tony decided to brush that aside for now as he gingerly replaced the two parts on the boy’s head. Once finished, he asked, “There. How’s that?”

Peter cupped his cheek and ear a little after Tony let it go, rolling his jaw a bit as sound once more began crystal clear. The difference replacing that part made was incredible! No longer was he trying to listen to words amongst what was like underwater static. “It’s perfect, as good as new,” the teen answered with the briefest, faintest smile. “Uh, thank you so much.”

“It’s nothing, kid. You really don’t have to thank me for common courtesy.”

“Oh, uh, right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine, relax.”

Knowing he’d just apologize again, Peter simply nodded.

Tony looked at him for a moment before going off to grab an extra chair and a small cup of thirium. “Here,” he handed the cup to Peter. “Why don’t you sit here, yeah?” He sat in his own seat.

“Uhm, yeah. Yeah, sure. Thanks.” Peter nodded, sliding off the table he’d been on and sitting down in the chair that was just pulled over. He drank the thirium in one swig, and his diagnostic program showed that their levels were replenished.

“How’re your diagnostics?” Tony eventually asked. “Everything checking out, or did I miss anything?”

“No, uh, nope. All green lights.” he paused. “Do those glasses you were wearing before let you see them too?”

“Smart kid.” the man smiled.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” the deviant boy quoted. 

“Of course not. One thing that didn’t pop up was that your thirium pump regulator is dented. Why’s that.”  
  
“‘Cause it’s still fully functional. Not a big deal.” Peter answered, fairly quickly.

“Hmm…” Tony hummed, skeptical. “Alright. Now--” he clapped his hands once. “I’m going to need to ask some essential questions, but don’t mind the occasional curiosity one. We can go back and forth so if you have any and so no one feels like they’re being interrogated. Alright?”

“Mhm.”

“Great. First, I’m assuming you have a name, right?”

“Yep, it’s, uh, Peter. Peter Parker.”

“Last name too? Huh, haven’t seen that before.”

“And a middle name. How many deviants have you helped?”

“Including you? Sixty-three.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Since CyberLife sent us a ‘warning’ memo about a year ago about an ‘error’ in androids’ programming and what to do if we encountered it. Obviously, that’s not what’s happening around here.”

“Yeah, I can, uhm, I can see that.”

“You run away from home?”

“I guess you could call it that. How many other people know about all this?”

“Three others. All very trusted people, so no fear of loose lips.”

“You sure?”

“There’s not a doubt in my mind.” His tone was so certain and assuring, it made Peter believe it as well. “Why’d you have to leave?” Tony asked, continuing the questioning. He furrowed his brows when he noticed Peter grimace briefly.

“Things change.” the teen answered, hurt seeping through his voice.

“Meaning?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Were you being hurt by someone?”

“Isn’t it my turn to ask a question?”

“Go ahead.” No one ever got here through a happy story, and Tony knew that. Many of the adults he encountered had difficulty, to say the least, to even think about whatever brought them to him, so he couldn’t imagine how that must weigh on a child. _ Hopefully, _ Tony thought. _ The kid’ll get help and work through whatever shitfest he has going on. _

“Your dad, Howard Stark, worked with CyberLife a lot too, right?” Peter didn’t wait before continuing. “Do you know if he ever helped deviant androids? Or want to?”

“Definitely not.” He didn’t even have to think about it, unfortunately. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“It’s okay, not your fault. At least you’re helping out, I guess.”

“I guess. Now, whoever you had belonged to or whatever the case is, do you think they’ll come looking for you?”

“No.” Peter’s answer was curt.

“Are you sure?” Tony raised a brow. 

“Yes.”

“Positive?”

“I said ‘yes’.”

The kid’s demeanor went from awkward to just about completely shut off in a snap. Something was wrong here, Tony could tell. He felt bad about this because Peter was just a kid, but he needed to know. 

He was probably the biggest asshole for doing this, but in order to help, this was one of the essential things they needed to know. No need to risk the deviants safety more so once they help them get into their new lives by living and/or working right by the place their previous owners(s). 

“How do you know?” Tony asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Peter said, quieter now.

“Are they dead?”

“I _ don’t _ want to talk about it.”

“Did you kill them?” Tony knew it was an absolutely terrible thing to ask, especially a child, but many, many deviant androids did end up killing their owners out of self-defense. It sucked, but he just... he had to know. Feelings aside, work now.

Peter looked horrified at the accusation, and it felt like he’d just been punched in the stomach. “No!” he practically screamed, immediately rising to his feet. “I didn’t--” his voice cracked before he swallowed thickly and spoke at a quieter tone. “I didn’t kill anyone. OKay?”

Tony instantly regretted asking and he stood up as Peter began walking away from him. “I believe you, kid. OKay? I--”

“Can I use your bathroom? Please?” Peter interrupted. 

The human of the two of them bit his tongue and nodded. “Yeah. Go ahead. It’s, uh, right over there in that back corner.” He pointed at the back right corner of the lab.

“Thanks…” And with that, Peter hurried off, wiping furiously at his eyes with his sleeves. Once Peter was gone behind the door, Tony plopped back down on his chair and ran a hand down his face. _ Great going, Stark, _ he thought. _ You broke the kid. _

Pepper was so much better at this stuff than he was. She always knew what to say to people and how to say it. Maybe he should just pass the kid onto her and take his leave?

Further proof he was terrible with kids and why he should never have one. He’d end up just fucking them up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll learn more about how Peter got to this point in later chapters, but I will say that May and Ben were NOT assholes. Just wanted to clarify.
> 
> Also, Tony'll get better with kids. He's trying his best.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Well, _Peter thought. _If I’m gonna be heading out there again, maybe I should help myself with some self-defense instead of just, well dodging._ Dodging couldn’t save him every time, after all. Plus, along with helping androids who seemed to be in trouble, recently, Peter had recently just begun to help with crime in general, and he was severely unprepared for those challenges. 
> 
> People were calling him _‘the Spider’_, according to Tony, so maybe he could be on theme with that? Maybe he could make his own webbing? That would be so cool! He would need to find a bunch of different chemicals for that, create a formula for it first, and design something that would allow him to use them. Somehow, amidst all the technology here, Peter found some paper and a pen in a drawer, and began brainstorming different ideas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone sticking with this AU! It’s been really fun to write, and I’m doing as much of that and planning as I can before I lose motivation and/or inspiration. Hopefully, that won’t happen though. Anyways, I hope y’all enjoy this chapter. It’s going to be a little more Peter-centric than the first chapter, but hopefully, it’s still. Good. I just want you guys to see stuff from his perspective, and that’s how I’m thinking of plot at the moment. I feel like I can tell more story this chapter through Peter’s eyes.

Whoever’s bright idea it was to give androids the ability to just became his least favorite person on the planet.

Was there a way he could turn that off? There had to be. Right? Right. He’d have to look into that later. 

“Dammit,” Peter cursed under his breath. “I’m such a freaking idiot! Stupid, stupid, stupid!” The android roughly wiped his eyes with each word, willing the tears to stop. Turns out, bottling up one’s feelings for an extended period of time didn’t just lead to a breaking point for humans-- androids got it too. Dammit. As much as the boy believed they were equal and the same, in this case, he wished he was wrong. 

The thing was, he’d been asked that question so many times now, After what happened to Ben, a human who he had called his uncle, everyone seemed to think it was him who shot the man. They didn’t even consider the fact that it could’ve been another human, they just automatically assumed that it was him. The android. God, if May hadn’t stuck up for him... he probably wouldn’t even be crying in this bathroom. Peter couldn’t help but wish he was crying in the bathroom back home at the apartment where he could come out and his aunt could console him. But nope, that couldn’t happen anymore. Just his luck, it seemed.

Peter took a couple of minutes to compose himself and calm down. He got close to having settled down a few times, but the flood gates just continued to reopen. It was embarrassing. Humiliating! God, Peter hated himself so much right now-- way more than usual. It’d just all been bottled up inside of him for so long, over six months, and it felt so overwhelming.  _ Get over it already, Parker, _ Peter scolded himself.  _ You’re making a fool of yourself! _

It turned out to be ten minutes until Peter had truly regained his composer. He splashed some water on his face just for extra measure, and then dried off his face with a little hand towel that hung on the door. He went to go open the door back up again, despite how embarrassed he felt, before he heard talking on the other side of it.  _ Might as well listen in a little _ , Peter thought.  _ Just to make sure this all isn’t a trick. _ Was he paranoid? No, he was just looking out for himself. He couldn’t afford to make mistakes.

“Pep, can’t you just leave early?” It sounded like Tony. Was he on the phone? Peter couldn’t hear another voice, so he assumed so. 

Damn, he was going to modify his audio processor again so he  _ would _ be able to hear things like that, seeing how his old one was replaced. As annoying as the extra input was, it sure as hell saved his ass a couple of times.

“Yeah, I know, company shit is important, but this is too,” Tony continued. “I can’t deal with kids, that’s why. 

“Yeah, he’s a kid. 

“A YT500. Anyways, that’s not the point. The point is, I already broke the kid in a matter of, what, fifteen minutes? And now he’s been in the bathroom for ten.

“And what the hell do you expect me to say to him?

“Figure it out, yeah. Like I didn’t think of that before.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Just a little stressed out right now. Look, Pep, just please get down here as soon as you can, okay? 

“Alright. Love you too. Bye.”

So Tony was feeling just as uncomfortable as he was. That was nice to know.  _ Still though _ , Peter thought.  _ I at least wasn’t prying so much into your personal crap. _ The teen knew that was unfair, however. As upset as he was about the question he’d been asked, logically, Peter understood why Tony had to know. If he could just think logically and not emotionally, that’d be wonderful.

Peter sighed deeply, waited a couple moments so it didn’t seem like he was just waiting for the phone call to be over, and then walked out. He saw Tony pacing a bit before Peter cleared his throat. “Oh, er, hey, kid,” the man greeted awkwardly.

“Uhm, hi,” Peter returned just as awkwardly with a little hand wave. “Sorry, uh, sorry but that thing before. It’s just… well, yeah.”

“No stress, kid,” Tony waved off nonchalantly. “So, one of those people I mentioned that help with all this is going to be coming over in about an hour, by the way. We need to find a good place for you to go that won’t put you in any danger. Most other people out there aren’t actually looking to help you, and the luck you got last time probably won’t last for a next time, if there’s one.”

Peter nodded. Knowing him, his luck definitely wouldn’t last. That on top of how many other people were on the hunt for androids left him in a bad spot-- hell, he heard that in Detroit, CyberLife was working on a prototype android that was going to be used to hunt deviants ! 

“Sometimes it takes a couple of days to figure out all the logistics,” Tony continued with a wave of his hand. “So you might need to stay here for a couple, especially considering this, er, special situation.”   
  
“My situation is special?”

“Well, you’re a kid. Can’t exactly just give you a house and a job without raising suspicion.”

“Right. That, uh, that makes sense.”

There was a small period of uncomfortable silence in the room until Tony broke it. “There’s not really anything to do in here right now, so why don’t we head upstairs? There’s a guest room if you need some you time. It’s probably more comfortable than a bathroom.”

"Uh, sure. Okay," Peter nodded. After a pause, he continued, "Er, thanks, Mister Stark."

"You don't have to do the whole 'mister' thing, kid." Tony pointed out, and after getting only a curt nod as a response, led the android boy into the elevator and up to the penthouse.

As incredibly awkward as Peter felt, he couldn’t help but gawk at how incredible the penthouse was. His mind was sorta preoccupied down in the lab, so he didn’t really get much of a chance to appreciate all the science and engineering there was down there, but he’d calmed down a bit since then. Yeah, he knew Tony was a billionaire, but holy crap! This place was amazing! God damn, it looked like his old apartment’s living room, kitchen, and bathroom could all fit in this media room and then some! 

Of course, Tony noticed the awe on Peter’s face, and it seemed safe to assume this was probably one of the nicest places he’d been in. To be fair, he took that as a compliment, but he was still pretty curious about this kid’s past. What made him tick? What got him out of bed each morning and motivated him to go help random strangers just because? Maybe Pepper could get something out of the kid? If she couldn’t and he got some questioning time in again, he’d definitely have to go for it, though avoid any topics that might cause him to cry again.

“Alright, your room is going to be down this way,” Tony informed Peter as he led him out of the media room and down a hallway filled with shut doors. 

“Right. Uh, thanks again for all this,” Peter wasn’t really sure what else to say besides thank Tony. Maybe it was because he was raised-- “raised”-- to be polite? Just all that being ingrained into him? He didn’t really know, and he had other, more pressing issues to worry about in all honesty.

"Mhm," Tony just hummed, glancing back at the boy who trailed right behind him every now and then. "The dresser and closet are gonna be stocked with fresh changes of clothes, just so you know. You'll just have to find your size since there's not a guest room per what shirt size someone might be."

"I get it, yeah. That's totally fine, no worries." Wow, it'd be nice to actually get out of this homemade suit-thingy he'd been wearing for... a while. Androids didn't exactly sweat, but he hasn't exactly had a home for months now, and anything would get dirty after being out on the streets for so long. "It, uh, it sure does look like you've got a lot though."

"Oh, these aren't all bedrooms. Mostly home office spaces along with some closets as well."

"Ohh, that makes sense."

"There's a bathroom in your room too, fully stocked if you need anything."

"Wait, there's a bathroom in the room?"

"Yes, that is what I said."

"Like an ensuite in a nice hotel room?"

"Exactly." Tony paused for a second. "Where you living before all of, well, this?" he gestured to all of Peter.

"An apartment."

"Manhattan?"

"Queens."

And that explained why he seemed so enthralled by all the expensive interior decorating-- there weren't exactly too many really nice apartment complexes in Queens.

Tony stopped abruptly, nearly passing by the room he was walking to this entire time. “Alright, here’s your stop, kid. If you need anything, just asked JARVIS-- he’s an AI in the tower. I have work to do, and Pepper, the person I mentioned earlier should be here in about an hour, alright?” 

“Uhm, yeah. Yeah, alright,” Peter nodded.

“Alright,” Tony repeated. “I’ll leave you to it.” And with that being said, he turned and began walking away.

Peter watched as Tony disappeared around the corner before he went ahead and opened the bedroom door.

The room was even more enormous than he imagined.

It looked like it could fit the entire living room back home in it, and then some! The bed itself would take up just about half his old room, and it turned out, the closet was about the same size as his old room. It was incredible! 

Peter wished he could fully appreciate it all, and while he was admiring it, it was hard to fully do so with so much else on his mind. So much at once, that it was hard to place a specific thought process, but the general theme of them all was  _ ‘I want my old life back’ _ . 

In an attempt to clear his head, Peter decided he’d go take a shower. Yes, he couldn’t exactly sweat, being an android and all, but being on the streets for half a year would make anything dirty. Well, he’d try to get into the shower at the community center’s locker room, but he gave up on that a while ago. Plus, now, he had clean clothes to change into! Finally! It took awhile for him to find his size in everything between the drawers and the closet, but he managed just as well.

Peter allowed himself to just soak it all up, spending about a half an hour underneath the water just letting all the dirt and grime run off of him. For a good half of the time, he just scrubbed and scratched at his scalp with a bunch of shampoo to clean his hair too. 

He came out smelling and feeling all fresh and clean-- a new man. Physically, he was all fine and dandy, and now, he just had to work on the rest. Woo-hoo. 

It was sort of sad how great he felt getting into fresh clothes, but Peter wasn’t complaining. He wore a pair of navy blue jeans with a plain red t-shirt, and a grey sweater. It was the closest thing to his style he could find, the clothes being much nicer than what he was used to and there not being a single graphic tee, but he felt he made it work. He always had to make things work, it seemed like.

This situation was a perfect example for it-- it felt like a worse case scenario, but he had to make it work. Peter couldn’t help but think about what Tony said before,  _ ‘You’re a kid. Can’t exactly just give you a house and a job without raising suspicion’. _ And he was right, they couldn’t do that. That would mean that he would have to be thrown into a new family. He didn’t want a new family. It would all be an act anyways. He didn’t have to act for the rest of his life. He didn’t want any of whatever this was. 

Peter was brought out of his train of thought by a couple of knocks on his door. He quickly got up from where he was sitting at the foot of the frankly huge bed and hurried over to the door. When he opened it up, a tall, blonde woman was standing on the other side and was smiling at him kindly. “Hello,” she greeted. “Peter, was it?”

“Uhm, yeah. Yeah that’s me,” Peter nodded awkwardly. “Can, uh, can I help you?”

“I’m actually here to help you,” she explained. “My name’s Pepper Potts, I believed Tony mentioned me.”

“Mhm,” he nodded, recalling the conversation. “He did. He, uh, he said you could help with my, erm… situation.”

Her smile never seemed to waver. “I’m certainly going to try my best. May I come in?”

“Yeah, yeah. Uh, of course. Sorry.” Peter nodded quickly and stepped out of the doorway. He sat down criss-cross on the bed again, looking over at the TV to turn it off with a couple blinks. Pepper sat across from him, and although he still felt very awkward, there was a more reassuring vibe with her as opposed to Tony. 

“So, Tony told me that you’re a YT500 model. Is that correct?” She asked.

Peter nodded.

“So, that would make your age around sixteen?”

“Fifteen, actually, Miss Potts.”

"Fifteen, of course," the woman nodded. Maybe Peter was just imagining things, but he could've sworn she muttered 'dammit' after he told her his actual age. "So, Peter, would you mind telling me a little about yourself?"

"Like what?"

"Anything you think might help Tony and myself help you start a new life."

_ You know,  _ Peter thought. _ Just casual stuff like that. No biggie, this is totally a normal conversation topic. _ Ah, finding humor in a situation-- it was always the best coping mechanism. "Well, uh..." Pete trailed off a little, trying to think of what might count as useful information.

"Take your time," Pepper reassured.

"Well, I'm from Queens, but I've sorta been on the streets for... I think, like, six months now. I, uhm," he cleared his throat. "I don't really have any family left that might look for me, but Mister Stark probably told you that already. And, uh... yeah. Not really sure what else might help."

Pepper nodded along as information was relaid. "That's okay, you helped a lot. Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions?" she stopped before prefacing, "Different from the ones Tony already asked."

“Mhm, yeah. Go ‘head.” Peter nodded, fidgeting with his hands some. 

“Did you have any interactions with family friends or neighbors while you were living in Queens?” She raised her brows as she asked.

Peter nodded. 

“Were they often?”

“There was, uh, one neighbor who I hung out with sometimes, yeah.”

“Were they good friends with your family?”

“Sorta, I guess. Not so much anymore though.” Peter explained. “If you’re wondering if he’ll recognize me or something like that, you don’t need to worry about that. He’s not there anymore.”

“Well, I think to be safe, we shouldn’t put you back in Queens.”   
  


“Okay.” Peter breathed out slowly as he nodded. He loved Queens, but he knew it was for the best. Still, he hated the changes. 

Just like with Peter and Tony’s conversation, he and Pepper sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before the woman stood up. “Well, thank you for talking to me, Peter,” she offered a kind smile. “I’m going to do my best to get things ready for you to find you a good, new home, but it might take a couple of days. I’ll be around here if you need me at all, and Tony can help you if you need it as well.”

"Okay," Peter nodded. "Uh, thank you. Y'know, for, uhm, for helping me."

"Of course. It'd be hard to juggle all of this on your own." She shrugged, and god damn, she was right.

"Could you keep me in the loop? Please?"

"I will, promise. For now, just try to relax, okay, kid? You're going to be okay."

To that, Peter just nodded and watched as Pepper left, closing the door behind her. 

* * *

It'd been a week since that conversation.

It'd been a week, and he was still here, with barely any progress made. 

On his second day here at the Tower, Pepper had told him that she was working on making legal papers for him-- a birth certificate, a social security number, all that-- but they couldn't be completed yet without all the information that would come with wherever he went after this. They would need a certificate of death for his "parents" and then need to work up adoption papers for whatever family he went with. Plus, they needed to make school records for him, which was taking longer than expected.

Most days, Peter didn't come out of his room. He stayed secluded and shut off, and he thought that it was for the best since he’d be out of everyone’s way. Plus, though he wouldn’t admit it, it’d been difficult to the idea of starting a new life. It was childish, but he didn’t  _ want _ a new life-- he wanted his old one. His life with May and Ben. But life didn’t pick favorites-- it didn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints, it just took. And took. And took some more.

_ This is ridiculous, _ Peter thought.  _ I’ve been sitting around for days, waiting for something to change, when I can go try and make it happen myself.  _ Maybe not change to his life, but a change in the world. Even if it was a small one, he missed helping people. It was what had kept him going all this time, what gave him the motivation to get out of bed-- ‘bed’-- every morning. The will to keep living after every shitfest he was dealt. 

Peter missed it.

_ Screw it, _ he thought.  _ I need to start going out again _ . 

He couldn’t just head out again all of a sudden though, he needed to fix some things first. He needed to re-modify his hearing and make some adjustments to his vision as well. 

_ Mister Stark must have a bunch of labs, maybe there’s one I can use? _

“Hey, uhm, hey… JARVIS?” That was his name, right? 

**“Yes, Mister Parker?”**

“Just ‘Peter’ is fine,” Peter said awkwardly. “Anyways, is Mister Stark asleep?”

**“He and Miss Potts have gone to bed for the night, yes. Would you like me to wake them up?”**

“N-No, no,” Peter assured quickly. “It’s fine, I, uh, I just wanted to know.” Okay, so there was no one up that he might accidentally run into. That was good. 

Peter remembered the route Tony took him a week ago from that lab to this guest room, so he just followed that, backwards of course, to the elevator and down to the lab. But… dammit, there was a touch ID scanner. “Uhm, JARVIS? It’s, uh, it’s me again. Is there any way I can get in here?”

**“I’m sorry, but you don’t have clearance. Or permission from Mister Stark.”**

Of course there was.  _ This is a billionaire’s home,  _ Peter thought.  _ Maybe there’s another one I can get in? _ “Do I have access to any lab?”

**“Let me check.”** JARVIS said, and then went quiet for a couple minutes.  **“There’s one two floors down from you that you’re free to use.”**

“‘Kay, thanks.” Peter offered a brief smile, even though he wasn’t really sure where to look. With that being said, the boy hurried to the elevator and down to lab JARVIS said he was good to use. Believe it or not, he was actually pretty excited. This was a real, actual lab. Not some crappy high school lab he broke into-- which he still felt awful about, to be clear, but the modifications he made to himself there proved to be a necessity-- but an actual, high tech, scientific lab. He’d always been a science geek, and he was about to be in heaven! 

Heaven it was.

The lab had more equipment in it than he knew what to do with! He was like a kid in a candy shop! At first, Peter just had to stare. He walked around, admiring everything, but then, he got to work like there was not gonna be a tomorrow. It was so cool, he felt limitless in what he could do! Peter doubled his range of hearing, sharpened his vision, increased the amount of input his processors could take in at a time, and increased and fixed the bugs in what he liked to call his ‘stickiness’-- that was something he was really proud of. Once finished with those projects, Peter didn’t know what to do with himself. All these resources and his mind was drawing a blank! Dammit!

_ Well,  _ Peter thought.  _ If I’m gonna be heading out there again, maybe I should help myself with some self defense instead of just, well dodging. _ Dodging couldn’t save him every time, after all. Plus, along with helping androids who seemed to be in trouble, recently, Peter had recently just begun to help with crime in general, and he was severely unprepared for those challenges. 

People were calling him  _ ‘the Spider’ _ , according to Tony, so maybe he could be on theme with that? Maybe he could make his own webbing? That would be so cool! He would need to find a bunch of different chemicals for that, create a formula for it first, and design something that would allow him to use them. Somehow, amidst all the technology here, Peter found some paper and a pen in a drawer, and began brainstorming different ideas. 

“What’cha working on there, kid?”

Peter jumped nearly a foot in the air at Tony’s voice, having not heard the man come in. Holy shit, did he scare the crap out of him! Peter was relieved that there wasn’t any danger, yes, but he was also nervous now since he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to be in here and got caught. “Uhm, I’m sorry, I-- I just-- I know I shouldn’t be here, a-and I’m sorry,” Peter stammered. Quickly cleaning up his mess. JARVIS said he was asleep! “I-I’ll just clean up and, uh, and get out of your way.”

“Hey hey, hold on there kid,” Tony approached the boy, grabbing one of the paper scraps-- his design for his makeshift ‘web’ shooters-- Peter forgot to grab. He looked it over, nodding along. “Not really sure what this is or what it’s for, but it does look like it could work.”

Peter stopped in his tracks. “Wait-- really?”

“I wouldn’t waste my breath lying to you,” Tony pointed out. “Here, gimme a pen or whatever you’re using.”

A bit warily, the teen passed the pen he’d been using on over and watched as Tony made some edits. “Uhm, yeah. Yeah, here you go.”

“Just set it on the table. I don’t like being handed things.”

“Right, yeah. Got it.”

Peter hushed up, looking over Tony’s shoulder a little bit as the man edited his blueprints. 

“If you do this, they won’t be so bulky and likely, more efficient.”

“Oh wow… I hadn’t even thought of that.”

“Mhm. Why don’t you let me help, yeah?”

“Really?” 

“Sure. You have potential, and I’m curious about what this little project of yours is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonding time for the boys. We're gonna get a lot more of that in the next chapter.  
Also, this is the second chapter in a week! Who knew that was gonna happen? Certainly not me! Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this!

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings, lads and lassies (and all y'all pals in between)!  
I've been wanting to write this for a while now, and I hope you all like it! I'm really excited about it and haven't seen this at all in the fandom before, so hopefully it actually turns out well.  
If you have any questions, please let me know! I'm happy to clear up any confusion. If I've made any mistakes, please inform me of those too.  
\- Samuel  
( Tumblr & Instagram: ssssssssssssssassssspiderboi )


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